The Amulet
by VocallyWritten
Summary: When a girl walks into Psych, asking for help, Shawn Spencer knew he might land into some kind of trouble, but when she claims to be a real psychic, he knows he's got more than trouble on his hands. Especially because she wants to be rid of her powers. Shawn and the rest of the gang must band together to help the girl before dangerous forces catch up with her, and them too.


Shawn Spencer was many things, but not stupid. Although, he supposed that a few people in his life thought he was, but Shawn preferred it that way. The more others underestimated his intelligence, the less likely anyone would figure out he lied about being psychic. To this day, he couldn't be sure what would come of him telling the truth, and he certainly didn't want to find out.

If he was being completely honest, this was the best job he ever had. It challenged him, surprised him, and finally made him feel like he was useful. Before, he had jumped from job to job, and never did he ever feel like he was needed. There was always another bus boy to replace him, always another greeter, always another something. With this, he felt needed, irreplaceable, and it was possibly one of the best feelings in the world, not that he would admit that.

All musings of his job aside, he still was not stupid. Eccentric, yes. Unorthodox, yes. But never stupid. So when a young girl walked into Psych, dirty and exhausted, he knew something weird was going to happen. He wasn't exactly sure what, for all he knew she could be trying to mug him. He suddenly wished Gus was there, because as not stupid as Shawn Spencer was, he definitely wasn't psychic and he couldn't begin to guess what she wanted, or why she was there.

"Are you Shawn Spencer?" The girl asked tentatively. She couldn't have been more than fourteen, but her hunched posture that made her seem afraid about an attack at any moment, her tattered clothes and her dirty face made her seem extremely young.

"Yes." Shawn answered quietly, afraid that anything above a whisper would make her run away.

"I need help." Her voice cracked on the last word and her eyes filled up with tears.

"Oh, no, no, no! Please don't cry, I really don't know how to deal with watery females." The plea obviously fell on deaf ears because the child dissolved into sobs. "Oh no! Please no! What do you need help with? Do you have anyone I can call?" The girl shook her head. "No? Well, ah..." Shawn trailed off. He had no idea how to deal with a crying little girl. Now he really wished Gus was here, though he might not know how to deal either.

The girl scrubbed at her eyes, looking absolutely annoyed. Shawn sincerely hoped it had nothing to do with his pitiful attempts at comforting her, he had no desire to be on the receiving end of whatever type of revenge she would surely deliver to him.

"I'm sorry, I never cry," She looked down. "But I really need your help."

"Hey it's okay," He said, carefully. "We all loose our cool from time to time."

She smiled a little. "I'm Lilly, by the way and I can't pay you but-" She trailed off. Normally Shawn would press for details, but he figured "I need you to help me get rid of it." She said after a moment.

"Get rid of what?" Lilly was really starting to creep him out.

She sighed. "Look, I know you're not psychic, but if anyone can help me, you can."

Shawn's eyes just about popped from his skull. "Look, I don't know who you've been talking to, or why you would think that, but I really am psychic. Is this a trick? Are you bugged or something?" He began circling around the girl, hoping that he would find some sort of explanation. "Is Lassie right outside? Did he put you up to this?"

"Lassie?" The girl's forehead creased in confusion. "Like the dog?"

"No," He said, drawing out the word. "Like the detective."

"I've never met a detective named Lassie, and it seems like a very unfortunate name for a grown man to have. I need your help, Mr. Spencer, and I can't pay you, but you need to help me stop my-" Lilly paused.

"You're what?" Shawn asked. Was it her parents? Sibling maybe? A friend who made a wrong decision and needed stopping?

"You'll think I'm crazy," She warned. "But you're the only person I could think of that might listen to what I have to say. And if you decide to help me, you have the skills necessary to do so."

"Look, kid, I don't have all day, so if you could quit walking around the bush and tell me what's wrong, that would be great."

Lilly looked at him strangely. "It's beating around the bush, not walking."

He simply shrugged. "I've heard it both ways."

"Well," She began slowly. "While you are not psychic, I am."

At this point Shawn could have sworn his eyes did pop out of his skull this time. However, Shawn Spencer was not stupid, and he knew psychics didn't exist, he being in on a similar scam himself.

"Alright, jokes over, you can leave now."

"Just hear me out." She pleaded. Shawn rolled his eyes and motioned for her to continue. It's not like he needed to be anywhere, the police department hadn't given him a case in weeks, his dad was on a fishing trip all week, Gus was at some convention for new medications that prevented toe fungus or something, and Jules was visiting family in Miami. No, he definitely had nowhere to be.

"I'm not sure why I am the way I am, I'm not even sure how long I've been this way. At first, when I was little, I would get these migraines and see little glimpses of things. Random things, like what vegetable would be served at dinner, or what store my mother would go to that week. At first, I would tell my parents about what I saw, but I learned very quickly that all I would get was a trip to the doctor for my migraines, and, later, when I began insisting I had visions of things that hadn't happened, visits to a therapist. Nothing ever came out of those, though. The doctor insisted it was dehydration causing my headaches and the therapist told them I had an overactive imagination." She rolled her eyes. "After that, I never told them about my visions. Then, a few years ago, it got worse. I thought the migraines were bad, but they were nothing compared to this. The first time it happened, I was in Math class, and I thought I was gonna die. Later, one of my friends told me I was screaming, and clutching my head, crying and thrashing around. I didn't realize I did any of that, at the time, all I saw was four of my classmates in a horrific car accident, and none of them survived."

She looked down, tears coming to her eyes again. Shawn, not quite sure what to do, awkwardly patted her arm. "I tried to warn them, but I sounded crazy. No one believed me, but, I mean, who would? I went around telling those four people to stay away from cars for the next month. A week after the vision, they were dead. It wasn't even their fault, the driver that did it was high and drunk and who knows what else. And the driver walked away with four broken bones. After that, most of the visions I had were about someone I didn't even know dying, and there was never anything I could do. It's horrible, seeing someone die, knowing where and sometimes when it'll happen. It's awful." Lilly scrubbed at her eyes. " After it got worse, I couldn't hide to truth from my parents anymore, they figured it out. But this time, they believed me, and it scared them. They tried to send me away to a school for 'special people like me'" She gave a bitter laugh and began walking around the office. "That was three months ago, I managed to slip away instead of boarding the plane my parents intended me to. I had no idea what to do after that, but then I had a vision, and for the first time in a while, it had nothing to do with someone dying, it had to do with you. So I left with the intention of finding you. I had been living in San Francisco until then. While I made my way toward Santa Barbra, I tried getting help from other people, but no one believed me, except one."

When a few moments of silence passed, Shawn figured she might say something if he asked. "Who might that have been?"

Lilly stopped in her tour about the room and looked at him. "I have no idea, I wish I did though. I didn't even find her, she found me. And she gave me this." Lilly showed him a strange pendent hanging on her neck. "She said it would help me on my journey, and then she left."

"What about your parents?" Shawn asked. "I mean, I know they tried to send you away, but they still care about you, I'm sure."

Lilly choked, and started sobbing. She pulled a scrap of paper from her pocket. Shawn took it from her and realized it was an article from a newspaper.

**Local Man And Woman Victims Of Gang Violence**

_Locals, Margret and Jeffery Manchester, were discovered dead outside of their home on Tuesday morning. Police believe they were victims of a gang war that happened the__ night they were killed. Likely caught in the crossfire, the gang might not have noticed them until it was too late. However, strange circumstances surround their death. Both had been discovered with guns on their person, most of the bullets had been discharged, though it is difficult to know if they were fired at the scene. Their sixteen year old daughter, Lilly, had been sent away earlier that week to a boarding school with surprisingly high security with her entire year payed for in full. At the end of her year, Lilly will live with her aunt, Joy Lerthil. However, this event still brings questions to everyone's minds, the most important being: Was this truly an act of gang violence? Or is there something else going on here?_

"I didn't even see it happening," Lilly said quietly. "I called my Aunt Joy after reading it. She told me that my parents knew I wouldn't get on the plane. In fact they counted on it. They payed that school the same amount as a year's tuition to tell everyone that I was going to school there. Only the Headmaster knew about it, and he confirms from time to time that I go there, I'm adjusting well, whatever. It's high security, so he didn't worry about endangering the other students. She also said she knew I wouldn't be living with her for a while, that I had bigger things to worry about."

"They knew." Shawn whispered.

"I thought so, too." Lilly replied in a voice just as soft. "Will you help me?" She asked after a moment.

"Yes," Shawn said after a moment's deliberation.

"Do you believe me?" She looked at him fiercely, as though daring him to say no.

"Almost." He replied. "Now, Where do we start?"


End file.
